Cottontail rabbits nest from March through September and may have as many as four litters per year. The average litter contains four to five babies. Young rabbits disperse from the nest at 15-20 days old. By three weeks of age, they are on their own in the wild and no longer require a mother's care.
Mom will come back a few times a day, usually between dusk and dawn, to feed the babies. Feeding may only take 2-3 minutes, so unless you're watching 24/7 you will probably miss it! To see if the mother rabbit is coming back to a recreated nest, you can do the “string test”.
Sometimes the mother rabbit does not return to the nest and this is usually because she is dead. A rabbit will return to a nest that has human scent on it as long as the nest itself has not been destroyed. If the nest has been disturbed, have the person place all material back in the nest.
Between March and September, cottontail rabbits are busy taking care of babies in nests commonly found in backyards, parks, and other urban locations. The nests — comprised of shallow depressions in the ground and covered with dry grass or fur — will house rabbits until they're about three weeks old.
This is normal behavior for a domestic (or wild) rabbit and that mother rabbits do not “lay” with their offspring in the same manner as dogs and cats. Domestic rabbits retain some of the genetic imprints of their wild European ancestors, who are animals preyed upon by others in nature.
To keep predators from finding the young the female only visits the nest twice a day to nurse them, typically once in early morning and again in the evening. Young rabbits develop quickly and will leave the nest when they are about three weeks old.
We've all heard the myth – if you touch baby bunnies (or any baby wildlife, for that matter) their mother will smell your human-ness and abandon her babies. One touch and they're good as dead! That is total and complete nonsense!
You and your children can peek at the baby rabbits, but don't touch them. If anyone picks up a bunny, return it to the nest. A little human scent will not prevent the mother from caring for her young. If it's clear the mother rabbit was killed, contact a wildlife rehabilitator who can best raise the orphaned bunnies.
The average litter size for rabbits is five, though mothers may give birth to as few as one and as many as 12! Since young rabbits grow up quite quickly, “doe” rabbits may have three or four litters in a season.
Mother rabbits only ever feed their kittens once a day, rarely twice, and that for just 5 to 10 minutes. In this short time frame, the kits get their whole day's milk supply. So, if you never see the doe go near the nest box you don't need to help nature along, the doe is doing her job while you're in bed asleep.
With torrential rains, baby bunnies are sometimes flooded out of their shallow nests in the ground. If the water has receded and you can locate the original nest, dry and warm the bunnies and return them to their nest.
In order to determine whether a mother rabbit is still in the area and providing care, place two pieces of string across the nest site in an “X” pattern. If the string has been shifted out of place during the next 24 hours, you will know that the mother has returned at some point and fed the young.
Baby rabbits need to stay with their mother until they are about 8 weeks old. Baby rabbits start nibbling on hay and pellets at about 2 weeks old. However, just because they start eating on their own does not mean they can be taken away from their mother.
Baby rabbits leave the nest when they're 3 weeks old and about the size of a chipmunk. If you find a chipmunk-sized but fully-furred rabbit with eyes open, ears erect and the ability to hop, they are meant to be on their own. As small and helpless as they may look, they are not an orphan and don't need your help.
You can also protect the nest with a wicker laundry basket with a hole cut in it for the mother to enter. Rabbit mothers nurse their babies for approximately 5 minutes a day. They will be in the nest or nest box early in the morning and then again in the evening.
Newborn rabbits drink only milk for the first 10 days. From 10 days small amounts of hay and veggies may be offered. By day 20 the kits should be nibbling the solid food, and by day 28 no more milk replacer should be offered.
Hay: The staple of a rabbit diet
As grazing animals, rabbits need to have an unlimited supply of fresh hay daily. You'll want to feed your rabbit grass hays. Good types of grass hay for bunnies are timothy, orchard grass, brome, and oat hay.
They have babies mid-February into September, having four to five litters each breeding season. Rabbits can give birth to up to 12 babies per litter.
The length of pregnancy in the rabbit is 31 days and the doe can produce from 1 to 12 young each time she gives birth. She can become pregnant again within a few days of giving birth. However it is not good practice to allow the doe to become pregnant straight after giving birth.
Mother rabbits do not stay in the nest with the young, so, chances are, if you accidentally uncover a nest, you won't find mom. She stays away so that her scent doesn't attract predators.
Underneath these patches will be the babies, called kittens. They are covered up in order to stay protected until they are ready to leave.
In any case of domestic rabbit babies, do not remove the babies until they are a full eight weeks of age. Separate the male babies from the females at this time.
In the wild, rabbits live in male/female pairs and usually within a family group, with one pair or family being at the top of the tree and other pairs/families subordinate to it. This is the best way to ensure survival of the warren by producing the optimum number of litters who survive to adulthood.
Rabbit nests often look just like a small patch of dead grass on your lawn. That's because the mother rabbit makes her nest by digging a small hole in the ground and then covering it with grass, leaves and other plant material to help protect the babies, Wildlife Illinois(Opens in a new window) reports.